Springtime greetings from the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay!

This is an energizing, invigorating time all across campus. Spring break has come and gone, students are immersed in challenging work in and out of the classroom, and Commencement is on the horizon.

It’s a time when our student artists and athletes put their talents on public display on stages, in galleries, and on playing fields. It’s also a time when we showcase the academic excellence of many of UW-Green Bay’s finest undergraduate and graduate students.

One of the special springtime traditions at UW-Green Bay, a tradition I’m eager to observe, is the annual Academic Excellence Symposium. The celebration of the outstanding scholarly and creative work being done across the entire campus is scheduled this year for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 8 in the Phoenix Room of the University Union.

The campus community owes a debt of gratitude to the Phi Kappa Phi honor society and the Office of the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences for organizing and sponsoring this exemplary event.

Allow me to set the scene for those of you who, like me, will be attending your first Academic Excellence Symposium. Student presenters will set up poster displays and other types of exhibits to showcase their research and creative work. Presenters will be on hand to explain their projects to visitors.

I am especially looking forward to seeing how our students, under the guidance of their faculty mentors, are “connecting learning to life.” Their work — whether it is a history project about Brown County’s “forgotten” World War I soldiers or an Arts and Visual Design project tied into the campus “Waging War, Waging Peace” Common Theme — will accentuate what makes a UW-Green Bay education distinctive.

I encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to view the work of our exceptional student body. This year’s Symposium will feature 82 students with 48 projects.

Another showcase of academic excellence – this one focusing on undergraduate research throughout the UW System – will take place later in April. The 6th Annual Posters in the Rotunda is scheduled for Wednesday, April 22, at the State Capitol in Madison.

This statewide research symposium is similar in format to our campus celebration. It allows viewers of students’ poster displays to study and review the projects and discuss them with the students. And it takes place in the picturesque and historic setting of the Capitol Rotunda.

With the Legislature in session, it no doubt will be a hectic day at the State Capitol. This is an excellent opportunity for the UW System and our campuses to convey to legislators, other elected and appointed state officials and the general public the important work being done by our dynamic students and their faculty advisers.

I have always felt that while university administrators like me can talk at length about all the great things happening on our campuses, there is no better way to get the message across than to have our students front and center, showing off their high-quality work and sophisticated research. After all, students are at the core of what our universities are about and can best explain the significance of what happens in our classrooms day in and day out.

Before concluding on the topic of academic excellence, I think it is timely to also emphasize the academic achievement of UW-Green Bay’s student-athletes. Our men’s and women’s basketball teams brought the University much attention during that exciting time of year known as March Madness. But these teams, along with all of our athletic teams, have been successful because of much more than winning records on the courts and fields and in the pools.

The combined grade-point average for UW-Green Bay student-athletes has been above 3.0 (a B average) for 18 consecutive semesters. Their combined GPA of 3.13 for fall 2008 was the highest since 2004. And 86 of our student-athletes had GPAs of 3.5 or higher.

When I get together with chancellors from other UW System campuses, it’s easy for me to boast about the achievements of our athletic teams. But it’s especially hard to be humble when our University and Phoenix Athletics program attract young men and women who are so well-rounded, hard-working and dedicated to success.

My thanks to all of you for all you do for our students, for making UW-Green Bay such a special place and for responding so energetically to the campuswide call to action to “connect learning to life.”


David Ward
Interim Chancellor